test 1
test 1
test 1
test 1
Speech test
Please read the following sentence.
Record it on your phone and send the audio file by email.
Speech test
Please read the following sentence.
Record it on your phone and send the audio file by email.
prominence
accent
accent
accent
日本語発音ラボ
Japanese Pronunciation Laboratory
Compound word accent
There are no rules for accent patterns of individual words, meaning you need to memorize them one by one. However, there are some rules for compound nouns and derivative nouns that you can use to predict to some extent.
Compound noun: a noun made by combining two or more nouns; derivative noun: a noun with an affix
In the following examples, country/region names are simple words with no accent rule. However, when ご (語, language) is attached, their accent patterns become all zero-gata (no accent). In the case of じん (人, person), the akusento-kaku falls on the mora prior to じん.
(For accent patterns, zero-gata and akusento-kaku, please refer to "Accent" in the menu.)
Letter in red: mora with an akusento-kaku (a pitch fall); zero-gata has no accent. When after the rule is applied and the akusento-kaku falls on the second part of a long vowel －, small っ or ん, it is shifted to the preceding mora.
Listen to the audio and find the location of the akusento-kaku.
The accent patterns of compound nouns are determined by the second component. In the case above, the second component is 語 and 人.
Here, we go into the details by dividing the second component into two groups - cases where the second component consists of one or two moras and cases with three or more moras.
First, when the second component is one Chinese character, and the reading is one or two moras, there are two possible accent patterns. One is no accent; the other is that the akusento-kaku falls on the last mora of the first component. Some exceptions exist.
Listen to the audio and find the location of the akusento-kaku.
Letter in red: mora with an akusento-kaku
Listen to the audio and find the location of the akusento-kaku.
Letter in red: mora with an akusento-kaku
Listen to the audio and find the location of the akusento-kaku.
Next are cases where the second component consists of three or more moras. There are two possible accent patterns. One is no accent; the other is that the akusento-kaku falls on the first mora of the second component. In the second example below, 曜日 (ようび) in itself has no accent (zero-gata), but げつようび has an accent, and the akusento-kaku is on the mora よ (the first mora of the second component). Some exceptions exist.
Letter in red: mora with an akusento-kaku
Listen to the audio and find the location of the akusento-kaku.
When the akusento-kaku of the second component is on the mora in word-medial position (としょかん has an accent on the second mora しょ.), the akusento-kaku becomes the akusento-kaku of the compound word. (だいがくとしょかん has an accent on the mora しょ.)
Letter in red: mora with an akusento-kaku
Listen to the audio and find the location of the akusento-kaku.
Word accent and vowel devoicing
In standard Japanese, the vowels i and u devoice between voiceless consonants (p, t, k, ch, ts, s, sh, h). This phenomenon is called vowel devoicing. Please refer to "Devoicing" in the menu for details.
The devoiced vowel does not accompany vocal fold vibrations, and thus, it is not heard. But, the trace of the devoiced vowel remains, and native speakers feel there is a vowel there.
On the other hand, the akusento-kaku (a pitch fall) is placed on the vowel. Therefore, the vowel devoicing, which does not need a vowel, is incomparable with the akusento-kaku, which requires a vowel.
Because the standard Japanese prefers vowel devoicing, the akusento-kaku may be shifted to an adjacent mora when the vowel devoicing occurs. In the example below, the red-colored letter is the mora carring an akusento-kaku and the blue-colored letter is the mora that is devoiceable.
はくぶつかん (博物館 museum) ⇒ はくぶつかん
びじゅつかん (美術館 art gallery) ⇒ びじゅつかん
When かん(館) is added, the akusento-Kaku comes before かん, but since the vowel "u" of "tsu" is between "ts" and "k," it is devoiced, and the akusento-kaku moves to the preceding mora ぶ and じゅ from つ respectively.
However, among young people, it is not uncommon to place the akusento-kaku on the devoiced vowel (つ in this case). They are all considered as standard Japanese accent.
The accent of 博物館 is either はくぶつかん or はくぶつかん.
The accent of 美術館 is either びじゅつかん or びじゅつかん.
Listen to the audio.